Unnamed sources told Reuters this week that Saudi Aramco was planning to potentially sell assets to raise cash for international expansion and existing operations.

According to Reuters, the state-owned oil major had requested investment banks to consider how its assets could generate additional income, with sources noting that sales could aid Aramco in improving operational efficiency and cost reduction efforts.

May 27 saw Aramco report a decrease in 2024 profits leading to a potential 30% lower total dividend for 2025 – an issue that would noticeably impact Saudi Arabia’s finances.

The news comes as previous reports show that Aramco made profits of $106.2bn for 2024 – less than $121.3bn for 2023 due to a decrease in global average oil prices and a decrease in production as part of an OPEC+ deal.

For the fourth quarter, Aramco’s board announced a base dividend of $21.1bn – an increase of 4.2%, however, this performance dividend was cut to only $200mn for Q4 as low oil prices start to take an effect, according to Oilprice.

Despite having some of the world’s lowest production costs at its conventional oilfields, the budget breakeven price of oil has increase to more than $90 per barrel – taking the country’s budget deficit up to $15.6bn in the first quarter of 2025, which is more than half of what the finance ministry forecast for the entire year, according to Oilprice.

Income generated by Aramco is important for Saudi Arabia’s budget revenues and is an important source of funding for ambitious government projects, as well as Aramco’s own initiatives.

In March, the company revealed that it had completed the purchase of a 50% equity interest in Jubail-based Blue Hydrogen Industrial Gases Company (BHIG) with Air Products Qudra (APQ) to manufacture hydrogen and lower-carbon hydrogen in the Jubail Industrial City area, while exploits abroad include additional agreements with Chinese petrochemical majors Rongsheng Petrochemical and Hengli Group – signed in 2024 – as part of a push to further cooperation in the Chinese and Saudi Arabian petrochemical sectors.

The deal with Rongsheng features a Development Framework Agreement that highlights the potential joint development of an expansion to Aramco’s Jubail Refinery Company (SASREF) facilities – according to a statement released by the Aramco at the time – which acts as a follow up to a previous cooperation agreement signed in April 2024 – aimed at forming a joint venture in SASREF as well as discussing potential investments in Chinese petrochemical sectors.